QUEEN CITY, Mo. - La Plata senior Molly Safley and the Lady Bulldogs’ girls basketball team tipped off what seems to be an annual tradition at the Northeast Team Camp at Schuyler County.

A new year, a new coach. Steve Lightle was brought in to replace John Weaver, who resigned after he coached the Lady Bulldogs to an 18-8 record last season. Weaver accepted a job at Clark County, where he will be an assistant football and basketball coach.

Safley has played for a new coach every year since she was in seventh grade.

“It’s hard,” Safley said. “Because you have to work twice as hard because the coach doesn’t know how you play. By the beginning of the school year, [after a] couple practices and games, he figures it out.”

Lightle wants to use the summer camps as a learning experience. La Plata played at a basketball camp in Cairo last week.

“The biggest thing we’re doing right now is they’re learning me and I’m learning them,” Lightle said. “This is our fourth or fifth time we’ve been together as a group and that’s it. We’re learning each other and they’re learning what to expect out of me in slow increments right now, but we’ll pick that up as we go along.”

The young Lady Bulldogs were tested on Monday, playing Meadville, the defending Class 1, District 12 champions, and Kirksville, who made the state quarterfinals in Class 3. La Plata played without its leading returning scorer senior Makay Belt.

“We’re just learning about each other and it’s hard to do that without leading scorer here, but we tried,” Safley said. “We need to work on our passes and stuff. They’re still used to junior high and not ready for the tough teams that we play.”

Against Meadville, La Plata started slowly and fell behind 11-2. La Plata would cut the lead to 22-20 in the second half, but Meadville pulled away late to earn the win. Safley led the Lady Bulldogs with four points.

Lightle said the Lady Bulldogs’ struggles offensively came in part due to their youth and having a new coach.

“Right now, they’re still running some things they did last year and I’ll probably keep some of these things,” Lightle said. “I think its just getting accustom to getting used to someone else yelling their names on the sideline. A couple of these kids have had a few coaches over the past few years and that’s hard on them.”